Tim Ottman — Director of Customer Service

Why do you want to be on the Outpost Natural Foods Board of Directors?

As our society begins the transition from current "take, make, waste" business and agricultural practices to a sustainable society, there are two core principles that will guide this journey.  One is the transformation of business/capitalism from one focused exclusively on profit to one focused on broader stakeholder needs including owners, employees, suppliers, local community, environment, etc.; embodying a triple bottom line business approach (people, planet, profit).  The second principle will be grounded in the redevelopment of local food systems.  Food plays such an important role in our lives and in our society that it will once again return to the center of our lives and our communities. Outpost Natural Foods understands and embraces this journey and is a beacon of hope for this new sustainable society. As a leader in both sustainable business and the local food movement, Outpost presents a model to the world of how things can work. 

I would be extremely proud to contribute in any way to the success of Outpost.

What professional skills do you bring to a Board position of a 50 million dollar business?

I am currently the Director of Customer Service for Northwestern Mutual, a company with over $230 billion in assets and considered one of World's Most Admired Companies. My daily responsibilities include strategy development, thought leadership, and relationship management. I am skilled in financial management, administration, strategy management, sustainability, organizational development and people leadership.

I received a Bachelors of Business Administration in Accounting and Management Information Systems (MIS) in 1993 from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire and in May of 2015 I received a Masters of Business Administration in Sustainable Business from Green Mountain College in Vermont. 

I have previously served as the president of the board of directors for the Highbridge Condominium Association.

In 2009 I was a member of the Future Milwaukee Leadership Development program from Marquette University which is a community leadership development program focused on developing leaders for government, business, education, religious and non-profit institutions.

Describe areas in which you are culturally fluent with a diverse community.

I have recently discovered that I am a white man in a white male culture. Through my employer I have had the privilege of attending a 4 day workshop entitled - White Men as Full Diversity Partners. Through this experience I have learned that as a white heterosexual male I have experienced an advantage that was unknown and unseen by me. With this newfound awareness, I have begun to engage more deeply in the diversity initiatives at my employer. I am a member of a reverse mentoring program where I am partnered with a Hispanic female to explore and understand what the Hispanic experience is like in Milwaukee and at Northwestern Mutual. I have also begun to explore those same questions for African Americans in Milwaukee through programs at work and our Black People Matter initiative at First Church. 

As a diversity partner I work to be an ally for diversity groups at work and in our city and work to expose unconscious biases in our daily lives.

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